Crossing the finish line Sunday, short-track speed skater Victor An raised his index fingers, celebrating his third first-place finish on behalf of Russia at the European championships.

Behind him, Dutchman Sjinkie Knegt communicated his thoughts about finishing second by raising a pair of less-appropriate fingers.

The gesture earned the Dutchman a red card, which equates to an automatic disqualification. Still, that doesn't come with a suspension for Sochi.

It was the last major competition in short track ahead of the Sochi Olympics. "The Russians and the Dutch, they like the competition," said Jeroen Otter, coach of Sunday's second-place finisher. Otter called Knegt's double-Dutch salute nothing more than frustration in the heat of battle, directed at no one in particular.

An, the gold medalist, saw the image afterward on a photographer's laptop and chuckled.

Anyone who doubts that Russia hopes to win lots of medals in Sochi should consider the case of An. A South Korean native formerly known as Ahn Hyun-Soo, he won three gold medals on behalf of his homeland in 2006, then missed the 2010 Olympics because of injury.

In 2011, Ahn renounced Korean citizenship and became Victor An to race for Russia.

Russia had only ever won a single Olympic short-track medal—a bronze in 1992 under the flag of the Unified Team. But over the last three years, Russia has become the dominant force in European short-track, a distinction often held by the Dutch.

Teams that improve thanks to imported talent invariably incur some criticism. Russia's response: Check the scoreboard. At least once this weekend when An took first place, two other Russian skaters took second and third.

"If it was only (An)," then some resentment might be reasonable, said Russian coach Sebastien Cros.

In first place, "OK, it's Victor," said Cros. "But now in second position is a Russian guy and third position is a Russian guy as well."

An, whose deep-red dye job and flamboyant fashion sense belie his shyness, declined to be interviewed ahead of the Olympics.

To rivals, An makes it look effortless, displaying throughout races a controlled, rhythmic style that is classically Korean, then finding extra gears late in the race. In a sport prone to crashes, his flawless technique allows him to slip around bodies like a scooter in a traffic jam.

"I love to watch him skate," Dutch skater Freek van der Wart said Sunday, once tempers cooled. "Now I just need to figure out a way to beat him."

After winning three gold for South Korea in 2006 at the Torino Games, An sustained an ugly knee injury in a training crash in 2008. Repairing it required multiple surgeries and sidelined him for more than a year. Upon returning, he was far from his former greatness. In 2009, he missed the cut for the Korean short-track team for the Vancouver Games.

From there, his relationship with the Korean Skating Union deteriorated. Media reports in Korea at the time suggested he fell out with the team brass over issues of selection. Russian officials said last week that they didn't know the details of the story. In any case, An began writing to other skiing federations in search of a new home. His goal: to compete in Sochi.

An email from An landed in the inbox of Alexey Kravtsov, president of the Russian skating federation.

"There was only one opportunity for him to climb up to the top of his sport and it was to change his citizenship," Kravtsov said in an interview. "I think Russia was the best country which can provide him this possibility."

Kravtsov invited him to join the team for a training camp. An was still ailing, but the Russian coaches saw lots of potential—along with perfect technique.

With the Olympics on the horizon, making the case to the Russian immigration authorities was easy. Host countries try to be competitive in every event.

Six months later, An was a Russian citizen by order of then president Dmitry Medvedev. When he received his passport, photographers stood outside to capture a smiling An flashing proof of his new identity. Suddenly, Ahn the Korean Olympic hero was a Russian dude named Victor.

"We chose [the name] together with Alexey Kravtsov and my father," An said at the time in a statement posted on the RSU's website.

First, he explained, he felt that a name associated with winning would bring him luck. And second, it was a tribute to another ethnic Korean who made it big in Russia, the Leningrad-born rock singer Viktor Tsoi.

An now lives full-time between Moscow and the team's training base in Novogorsk.

Under the Olympic charter, An can compete for Russia because he hasn't represented South Korea at the international level for three years.

In Sochi, it isn't inconceivable that An could repeat his three-gold-medal performance from 2006, although two medals might be likelier. As always, his former squad—the South Koreans—will be tough, as will the Canadians.

In Russia, however, triple gold wouldn't earn him the celebrity it did in Korea. Indeed, An is little-known in Russia, where short track matters a lot less than does figure skating, ice hockey and biathlon.

the olympics is tainted with the admission of professional athletes (ie. men's basketball the U.S. men's basketball team is all professionals and only top shelf professionals at that) they really should discontinue the charade its always been my understanding that the Olympics were to showcase amateur athletes....such is no longer the case... if I wanted to watch the NBA it is generally televised here in the U.S. I strongly feel that professional athletes should not be allowed in the olympic competition they are already zillionaires let someone who hasn't made millions on their chosen sport have a little bit of the spotlight....

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